Philip Stanhope, 5th Earl Stanhope (1805-1875), Historian; founding member and first chairman of the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery and Conservative politician; MP for Hertford. Sitter in 23 portraits.

This picture commemorates the passing of the Great Reform Act in 1832. It depicts the first session of the new House of Commons on 5 February 1833 held in St Stephen's Chapel which was destroyed by fire in 1834. The largely Whig campaign for electoral reform had begun in the mid-eighteenth century and by 1832 it had proved unstoppable, following widespread agitation and economic distress. The Reform Act extended the vote to a larger number of men according to their rate-paying or property ownership. It also redistributed representation more fairly and new boroughs were created so that some new industrial centres had MPs for the first time. The picture includes some 375 figures and although Hayter abandoned the idea of depicting all 658 Member of the reformed Commons he maintained the relative proportions of the parties. In the foreground, he has grouped the leading statesmen from the Lords; Grey (1764-1845), Melbourne (1779-1848) and the Whigs on the left and Wellington (1769-1852) and the Tories on the right. Painted without a commission it took Hayter ten years to complete and another fifteen to sell. Paradoxically, it was the Tories who finally agreed to purchase it, in 1858, for the recently founded National Portrait Gallery.

Current affairs

Shaftesbury's Factory Act is passed regulating women's hours and providing for the education of children working in the textile industry. Bank Act is passed, making Bank of England notes Britain's legal tender.

Art and science

Charles Lamb publishes Last Essays of Elia after the enormous success of his earlier Essays. A comic allegorization of his humdrum clerical job they become one of the period's literary sensations.Charles Dickens begins his series Sketches by Boz in the Monthly Magazine.

International

Abolition of slavery in the British Empire; 780,000 slaves are freed, £20 million is allocated as compensation for slave owners and a six year apprenticeship system for freed slaves is established.

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